I spent the last few days visiting my daughter Carson in Ontario, where she is an archaeology student at the University of Toronto. My son Mo and I stayed at the elegant Intercontinental Hotel on Bloor Street—the general manager is an old friend of mine who I met in Hungary years ago (on a boar hunt of all things). Anyway, the Intercontinental is kind of boutiquey, without the attitude. They have a good restaurant: I had a fantastic venison tenderloin with smoked potatoes and beech mushrooms with an Ontario cuvee that I am still thinking about, and the bar made a vodka Gibson for me that was perfect. Twice.

So Carson was carrying on about what she wanted me to cook for her when she got home, and it is so ironic, because the dish she is after is the same one I craved when I was away from home, and the same my dad craved when he was drafted into the army: eggs with vegetables.

Eggs with Vegetables--this one has chard in it.

Italians traditionally eat eggs at night, as part of a light dinner (the heavy meal of the day is lunch). This dish, with a salad afterward, is actually a summer staple in our house, although I’ve made variations with winter vegetables, too.

Eugenia Bone, a veteran food writer who has published in many national magazines and newspapers, is also a cookbook author. She is the author of Well-Preserved (Clarkson Potter 2009). She has contributed to many cookbooks and a few literary journals, been nominated for a variety of food writing awards and participated in radio, interactive and online interviews, in addition to appearing multiple times on television. She lives in New York City and Crawford, Colo.

The secret to tasty food is homemade and seasonal. To do that, you've got to put up food. Well-Preserved reports on small batch preservation year round, and generates recipes from those preserved foods.